Nyssa Pitts Morais: The Intersection of Business, Humanity, and Art

Nyssa Pitts Morais lives in Harlem. She has a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently the Senior Global Director of Research and Analytics at Revlon. Her 18-year career in the corporate, private sector includes leadership positions in pharmaceutical and consulting companies. So why is a businesswoman from Manhattan one of the biggest supporters of an arts nonprofit serving Bronx children? Because the arts have, and continue to, play a transformative role in her life weitere informationen ansehen. She wants to provide the same opportunity to children that she sees her younger self in.

Nyssa remembers the arts as part of the curriculum when she was an elementary school student in Long Island. When her family moved to Brooklyn that was no longer true. Even though she was enrolled in the talented and gifted program at one of the best public junior high schools, arts programming was considered incidental to the more rigorous academic subjects. It wasn’t until Nyssa received a scholarship to the prestigious Groton School in Massachusetts that she reconnected to the arts in a significant way, participating in dance, woodshop and theater. At most independent schools attended by affluent young people, arts programming is a requirement considered essential to the development of their students, unlike public schools in low-income neighborhoods where it’s often the first thing to get cut due to budget constraints or other reasons.

Art plays in one’s individual and collective consciousness. It opens the space for creativity, which leads to passion and purpose. - Nyssa Pitts Morais

The presence of the arts has shaped Nyssa’s outlook in life. “Art plays in one’s individual and collective consciousness,” she says. “It is a reminder that we are all connected, that life should be experienced through all senses. Art opens the space for creativity, which leads to passion and purpose.” One of the places in Nyssa’s life where this is most evident is in the work she does for Revlon.

Nyssa leads the team responsible for managing the trends that impact beauty products at the cosmetics giant. The team conducts consumer research globally to track the success of current Revlon products and forecast the performance of future ones. They take the aspects of the business, sometimes as vastly different as runway and technology, and fold them together to design and package products. Creativity is as essential to that process as is it to coming up with solutions when problems arise. As Nyssa would tell you, “Art is not solely for enrichment; it has real world applications in the workplace as well.”

Those are the reasons she supports Artsmith. Nyssa believes in Artsmith because the organization provides its students with the immersive framework to become able, socially conscious, creative and passionate human beings. According to her, “Artsmith’s programming uniquely brings together critical aspects in a child’s development – expression, comprehension and articulating ideas. They cultivate a safe environment for children to learn by enabling them to tap into their creativity and voice their ideas.”

Considering how polarizing the current political climate is, it is even more clear how the role of the arts is needed to bring back the humanity and connectedness in our country and the world. For Nyssa, “this is a critical ‘call to action’ that we need art programs that are nurturing and socially relevant and that promote national and global understanding and shared experiences. I support programs like Artsmith that support our children in this way.” A cornerstone of Artsmith’s programming is opening its students to the unknown and bridging the divides and eliminating the barriers that ignorance and unfamiliarity can cause.

Like Artsmith’s founder Tricia Smith, Nyssa’s growth into the woman she is today was greatly facilitated by an organization that provided opportunities to bright, socioeconomically disadvantaged children. Alumnae of Prep for Prep and the Oliver Scholars Program respectively, for Tricia and Nyssa, the chance to attend some of the best educational institutions in the country opened their eyes to people, cultures, and paths they may not otherwise have known. Nyssa is so inspired by Tricia’s vision and desire to bring those experiences back to her community that she would like to see Artsmith expand to reach underserved communities not only in the Bronx, but also in Harlem or even nationally. While she’s waiting for that to happen, Nyssa serves young people in her community as an SAT tutor for underserved high school students in Harlem.

“Donating to Artsmith makes me feel like I am part of something greater,” Nyssa says. “It’s a movement that is homegrown by someone inside the community who is planting the seeds for a brighter tomorrow. To anyone or any organization who is thinking about donating, volunteering, or partnering with Artsmith, I would say, ‘Join us, join something greater.’ I would also remind them of one of my favorite quotes by Mary McLeod Bethune, ‘Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.’”

We at Artsmith are proud and honored to have Nyssa and her passion for empowering children as a supporter of the organization. Together we’ll continue to elevate the children that we serve.